Never! That section of BQE is the most stunning stretch of road in the entire country. That may sound too auto-centric, but I've always thought that approach to the Brooklyn bridge is a classic New York experience. They could just as easily build stairs anyway.

Yes, very egoistic actually. The covering of the road would benefit many local people in ways that are far more important than some driving experience. We're talking about people's lives, not some thrill.

I guess I don't see the benefits of covering the highway in this case. It's quiet enough from below, and the only people around who live near it, live above it with a promenade and basic principles of sound in the way.

Brooklyn Bridge Park has now been added to the Panorama of the City of New York, the massive yet miniature city housed at the Queens Museum of Art. Click through for a look at the latest addition to the 9,335-square-foot model, which was commissioned by Robert Moses (though it was physically built by a team of 100 people) in 1964 for the World's Fair.

The museum has been adding one to two new structures each year since 2009, and this morning they told us, "Prior to yesterday’s installation of the Brooklyn Bridge Park, the last addition was Battery Park City in April 2010 which added 25 new structures to the Panorama. In April 2010, we added the Flushing Meadows Corona Skate Park, and in April 2009 the Mets sponsored the addition of Citified."

The model also includes every single building constructed before 1992, in all five boroughs—a total of 895,000 individual structures. And through May 20th there are even 15 fantastical islands in the panorama's "rivers."

And now is a good time to remind you that you can still OWN a building on the panorama—with apartments going for the very reasonable price of $50, and neighborhoods and parks selling for $2,500. This money goes towards additions to the panorama, like this one of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

This model was made in 1992 or earlier. Of course it's going to feature the Twin Towers. I don't think they can take it out either because it has been put in there so they can't change it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_M_Tungsten

Umm why? It's a model, it can be changed out quite easily I'm sure.

Yes it has been changed before, The article of the post of NYguy says it all.
The model was made in 1964 for the NY World's Fair of that year that was held at the site of the Flushing-Meadows Corona Park. It is updated some time to time, as you can see in the pictures. It is claimed to include every single building in NYC constructed before 1992 when the last major update was made.
In the case of the Twin Towers, they were included in the update of 1992, they decided not to remove them until the new 1WTC is finished. More recently, they included all the buildings of Battery Park City.
The Panorama is located at the Queens Museum of Art.

They probably have a team of professional model-makers they work with, but those guys are expensive. They make modifications to the Panorama as funding permits, and since the city has better things to do with its money, virtually all of those funds come from private donations. Since Brooklyn Bridge Park is a huge-scale modification to the city, it makes sense to start there, because the model will be very conspicuously inaccurate without it. Battery Park City was another one.

I assume they will do the WTC in one fell swoop once it is completed, or at least once 1WTC is completed.

Yes it has been changed before, The article of the post of NYguy says it all.
The model was made in 1964 for the NY World's Fair of that year that was held at the site of the Flushing-Meadows Corona Park. It is updated some time to time, as you can see in the pictures. It is claimed to include every single building in NYC constructed before 1992 when the last major update was made.
In the case of the Twin Towers, they were included in the update of 1992, they decided not to remove them until the new 1WTC is finished. More recently, they included all the buildings of Battery Park City.
The Panorama is located at the Queens Museum of Art.

Correct, although the model has had some alteration since then, no major changes. The fate of the WTC model is given here.

New Public Pool Coming To Brooklyn Bridge ParkErin Durkin
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Quote:

Everybody into the pool, Brooklyn!

A new public pool with killer views of Lower Manhattan and New York Harbor is set to open at Brooklyn Bridge Park this summer.

Officials signed off on a $199,000 deal Wednesday to build the above ground pool in the upland section of Pier 2, where it will sit for at least five years.

The 1,500 square foot, 3.5 foot deep pool, set to open in July, will be surrounded by a deck and a sandy artificial beach with food vendors.

“It’s going to be awesome,” said park spokeswoman Ellen Ryan. “It will be a real destination.”

The pool was added to the park plan as part of a complicated deal struck last year between city officials and local pols to allow housing to be built in the park to to generate cash.

“This coming summer Brooklyn families can dive right in. Brooklyn Bridge Park is already making waves and this pool is certain to make a splash,” said state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn Heights). “We pushed very, very hard for it and are really pleased that it’s becoming reality.”

The pool will be the only part of the Pier 2 section of the park open this summer. The rest of the pier is under construction.

Chunks of the park already opened at Pier 1 near Old Fulton St. and Pier 6 near Atlantic Ave. have drawn huge crowds for the playgrounds, walking and running trails. sloping lawns and granite staircase. .

Locals have long pushed to get a floating pool, like the wildly popular barge-borne one that docked in the Brooklyn Heights harbor in 2007, stationed at the park.

But that pool, called the Floating Pool Lady, has been relocated to the Bronx. While officials applied for a permit to put one at Brooklyn Bridge Park, it could cost 50 times more than a stationary pool, and they don’t have the $5-10 million they would need.

“A pool for five summers is a big deal. The ultimate goal is a permanent pool in the park. The floating pool was extraordinarily popular, and that’s certainly one of the options,” Squadron said.

It’s quite a basic algorithm – more people equals more traffic, more traffic equals more noise. Whilst the noise itself may be inevitable, it can be muffled these days by innovative, unique and groundbreaking design concepts.

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway at Brooklyn Bridge Park generates an overwhelming hum of traffic on a daily basis. In response, architect Donald Rattner in collaboration with Hage Engineering have “created a proposal intended to ameliorate traffic noise, provide more usable park area than has been possible to date, and enhance the public realm with a work of civic art.”

The design proposes to enclose the expressway, trapping the noise and preventing it from disturbing the visitors to the park. The expressway is set to undergo repairs from 2018 and the project could easily be factored in to the repairs. Rattner explains –

“There is a practical need to deal with the vehicular noise that emanates from the BQE. Regardless of what is ultimately built on the waterfront – housing, restaurants, ball fields, passive recreation areas – visitors to the open space and surrounding structures will be subject to relentless, unpleasant, potentially deafening noise – at 85 decibels, the equivalent of standing next to an operating lawnmower. But there is also an aesthetic dimension that needs to be addressed. Our proposal seeks to provide a pragmatic solution to the problem and simultaneously to offer those on both sides of the river an attractive piece of public sculpture to appreciate.”

The structure also aims to utilise innovative green architecture concepts; the exterior of The Connector will use photovoltaic cells designed to absorb solar energy.It’s the clever mixing of a traditional park with modern and highly practical design which makes the proposal so intriguing.

A Manhattan philanthropist is donating $40 million to the cash-strapped Brooklyn Bridge Park waterfront project to fill its greatest need: year-round recreation. Joshua Rechnitz, a 46-year-old competitive amateur cyclist and animator by trade, plans to bring a 115,000-square-foot enclosed field house for year-round sports to Furman Street off Pier 5 in Brooklyn Heights.

The moneyman spent the past few years searching citywide for the best location to build such a project before dishing out what officials say is the largest donation a city park has ever received. The field house would include a 200-meter inclined track for cycling, ball fields, a gymnastics area, a boathouse and courts for basketball, tennis and volleyball.

Rechnitz has set up a nonprofit to run the site, which he hopes to break ground on in 2014 and complete in 2016. The project has widespread Bloomberg administration support but must still seek various city approvals.

“We want this to truly be a community endeavor that will add amenities for park users and provide a much needed all-weather sports facility,” said Rechnitz.